The present application claims priority from a Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-100478 filed on Apr. 3, 2003, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular headlamp and a semiconductor light emitting element. More particularly, the present invention relates to a vehicular headlamp for emitting light with a predetermined light distribution pattern.
2. Description of the Related Art
With regard to a vehicular headlamp, in view of security, it is necessary to form a light distribution pattern with high precision. This light distribution pattern is formed by an optical system using, e.g. a reflector or lens as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1994-089601. Recently, it has been studied that a semiconductor light emitting element is used for the vehicular headlamp.
A semiconductor light emitting element generates light from its light emitting area having predetermined spread with regard to its surface or cross-section. In this case, since optical system design becomes complicated, it might be difficult to form a proper light distribution pattern.